LAMBERTVILLE — The city and neighboring West Amwell Township have established a new program under which all of its residents could get switched over to a new electric generation company.

The goal is lower electric bills each month. JCP&L will still deliver the electric, and charge customers monthly to do that and to maintain the infrastructure. Customers would still call JCP&L in the event of an outage.

But a number of companies may generate the electricity, in addition to JCP&L, and compete for customers.

Lambertville and West Amwell have joined together — in the hope that more customers will yield a better rate — to become the first municipalities in Hunterdon to move toward "municipal" or "community aggregation."

Lambertville Mayor David DelVecchio said this week that he expects the two municipalities to advertise for bids in November, which could mean that residents are switched over to a new supplier in January.

"Our city and the township gets nothing" from the program, he said. The municipalities, schools and the Lambertville Municipal Utilities Authority are already partners in an energy cooperative aimed at increasing the use of renewable energy and lowering overall energy consumption.

They would not be part of the community aggregation program. "This is just a good thing to do for our residents," said DelVecchio.

In New Jersey, residents are automatically switched to the new supplier, unless they opt out of the process. Businesses, on the other hand, must opt in.

The municipalities could only accept a bid lower than the electricity generation rate, based on kilowatt hours, that is charged by JCP&L. The goal is lower utility bills for residents and businesses within the two communities.

Officials in Delaware Township were also asked if they would like to join the Lambertville-West Amwell community aggregation program, but declined on behalf of their residents.

A consultant is guiding the municipalities and will be paid by the company that is awarded the contract for municipal aggregation.